Despite its prominence as a world cultural center and a locus of research on
deaf culture, history, education, and language for more than 150 years,
Gallaudet University has only infrequently been the focal point of historical
study. Eminent historians Brian H. Greenwald and John Vickrey Van Cleve have
remedied this scarcity with A Fair Chance in the Race of Life: The Role of
Gallaudet University in Deaf History. In this collection, a remarkable cast
of scholars examine the university and its various roles through time, many
conducting new research in the Gallaudet University Archives, an unsurpassed
repository of primary sources of deaf history.

Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian James M. McPherson sets the stage in his essay
“A Fair Chance in the Race of Life,” President Abraham Lincoln’s first statement
to Congress championing the rights of all people. The papers that follow
scrutinize Gallaudet’s long domination by hearing presidents, its struggle to
find a place within higher education, its easy acquiescence to racism, its
relationship with the federal government, and its role in creating, shaping, and
nurturing the deaf community.

These studies do more than simply illuminate the university, however. They
also confront broad issues that deal with the struggles of social conformity
versus cultural distinctiveness, minority cohesiveness, and gender
discrimination. “Deaf” themes, such as the role of English in deaf education,
audism, and the paternalism of hearing educators receive analysis as well.